I went to town to take photo shoots for my double pages spread. It worked well in town there are a lot of dark alleyways which helps to link in with my genre, the balcony in town also worked well as it has a lot of neutral colours and because the models outfits were very dark it helps to contrast with them. I think what I could have done to make it better was to make one of their outfits to include orange in it so it makes it looks like it goes with the contents page and front page more. I may use these three photos above as they all include either different gestures and facial expressions or props which make the image more unique. They all include colours that are contrasting helping the subject of the image to stand out.

I have wrote my article to hook, entertain and inform my audience. I have included quotes and questions to create personal identity and encourage social interaction. The image above was my first draft, I also took a video of someone reading the article so that I could listen to how it sounded.

After reading through my article draft I made adjustments to it, here is my improved one…

All new exclusive artists and albums find out more in this magazine. 

Courcy is British and lives in London. From an early age he was always passionate about his music and has always wanted to be a singer. He has been creating his own songs since the age of 15.

 Courcy says, ‘Take life as it comes, we all find ourselves in the end.’ 

I met with Courcy as he took a break from recording his latest album, Youth, and asked him some of the questions reader of Metro Indie have been on at us to find the answers to:

What made you want to get into the music industry? 

My parents have always been musicians and in the music industry, as my dad was a guitarist and my mum was a singer, so from a young age I have always been passionate about music. Music has always been a part of my life, it’s in my blood. 

Why did you stop recording albums for so long? 

A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with depression. I needed some time to myself without being in the public eye but whilst I was struggling mentally I created new songs; music allowed me to heal myself and helped me to come back to reality. Now I’m able to come back with a new album and feeling better than ever. Music has allowed me to become who I am today and helped me to escape reality. In the future I will continue to create my albums and more concerts and I hope to meet more of my fans one day, I’m grateful to them all. 

If there is something you would like to say to your fans, what would it be?

All I have to say is that I appreciate you guys lots and there’s one thing I always say which is we are here for a good time not a long time, any dreams you have go for it, live life to the fullest, ignore the people that try to stop you. You can be whoever you want to be!

Who would you most like to collaborate with?

I would hope to one day collaborate with Yungblud or Artic Monkeys as they have inspired me within the music industry and they have created incredible songs, they are all such great people and it would be lovely to meet them properly one day, I would feel more than honoured to work with them. 

What has been the best performance of your career so far?

I would say that when I performed at Reading a couple of years ago it was by far the best performance I have done, the whole crowd were so supportive, to see the happiness on everyone’s faces warmed my heart. It was so lovely to see some of my fans individually afterwards. I want to say a massive thank you to the whole team setting everything up, they were very kind and great to talk to. 

What type of singer would you classify yourself as?

I would classify myself as an indie rock singer as I tend to sing rather chill but also upbeat music. 

As we can see Courcy has definitely bounced back looking great, we look forward to the release of his new album. Don’t miss out, be sure to buy next month’s edition as there will be a chance to win tickets to the launch party of it. 

‘LIVE LIKE THERES NO TOMORROW!’

Please click on the image to open the PDF.

Please click on the image to open the PDF

I created a production meeting agenda for my second shoot that will be based in town. This has helped me to think about what costume my model will wear and what I will need to bring on the day to be prepared and organized.

I’ve analysed an article to see how they have worded it and to understand the different conventions of an article. They have sued different fonts to hook the readers in. It has allowed me to see how they have used gratification theory to increase social interaction, personal identity, inform their audience and entertain their readers.

This article contains roughly 388 words. The article I am analyzing is called James Lavelle, the date of this magazine is September 2017, the title of the author is Dorain Lynskey. There is some evidence of the journalistic techniques of the who, what, when, where, why and how. Here are the examples: James Lavelles is the guy that this article is about, he is in Camden, North London he was interviewed in 2017, as he is the boy wonder who, as the founder of the Mo’ Wax label, launched DJ Shadow and invented trip-hop, they wanted to hear his life story. He becomes bankrupt due to the death of Mo’ wax. The article is a biography as it’s based on one star and talks about his life and the journeys he has experienced throughout life. The article is laid out with a close up image of the star filled up on one side of the double page spread, on the second half of the double page spread. His name is in a large black font taking up just over half the page, on the bottom of the page it’s filled with writing that is laid out in columns. 

I am aware of the presence of the journalist as the biography is written in 3rd person. There is a clear introduction to the article as it’s in bold and bigger writing, this paragraph then leads the reader to the remainder of the article. There is a conclusion within the article but it is further into the article. He has used alliteration within the article this helps to maintain the audience’s attention. The writing fits the genre as the font is bold fitting in with the trip-hop feeling. Here are is one of the quotes he included within the article “a f***ing amazing night” this was to show that his 24th birthday party was a very memorable night spent with well known people such as Noel Gallagher. The reader will experience inspiration after reading this article. 

The journalist represents the star as a very vulnerable person at one stage and then bounced back and is now strong, after experiencing bankruptcy and other life issues, this shows that he is extraordinary and ordinary. 

Please click on the image to open the PDF

Please click on the image to open the PDF

5 Targets for me to improve on within the contents page

• Photo shop my images before I create the real thing.
• Consider more layouts
• Maybe use less fonts
• Make sure the spacing is equal between images and text etc.
• Maybe incorporate another colour within my contents page.

After creating some layouts for my contents page it has allowed me to consider which layouts I prefer. After drawing out some layouts that I like I made a collage of different content pages to help inspire me when I come to making my own. Once looking at them I figured out that they all have certain parts in common which make it conventional to a contents page, for examples they all have page numbers, coverlines and an index. After I have looked at the content pages it has enabled me to consider the AIDA and to create interest within my audience. I want it to attract entertain and also provide information to my readers.

Catchy Headlines 

“All exclusive now!”

“Hurry up before it sells out!”

“Last chance to buy”

“Running out soon.”

“New album out now”

After creating my draft magazine cover I looked at the marking scheme for it and wrote down what I had included and what I need to consider when I come to making the proper one. This enabled me to see what I had and hadn’t done and a rough grade of what my magazine cover is currently at.

When I make the proper one I need to improve on numerous aspects of the page such as adding more cover lines and editing the ordinal image on photoshop. After making these adjustments it will enable my magazine to look more conventional and attract a wider audience. It will also allow it to be more professional. I considered 5 targets to give myself to further improve this.

Five targets to give myself:

• Add more headlines
• Edit the image more on photoshop
• Make sure the cover lines are catchy
• consider and make more layouts
• Cut out the model more precisely

I took some photos to go onto my magazine, I considered the MES EN SCENE whilst taking these photos. I will use one of these images for my star image and I used certain costumes and props to make sure that it linked in with my genre. I used the bold props to portray the star as extraordinary but the hand gestures made him look more rebellious giving off the idea that he is ordinary. I made sure that the camera settings were correct in order to take the images so that they were sharp and in focus. When my audience observe this image I want the star to be decoded as bold and confident. I also want them to be able to encode this image. I took this images to ensure that it fit in with the conventions of the genre.

By completing this sheet it has enabled me to get a clearer idea of what my USP is and the competition that my magazine is up against. This has also allowed me to think about my target audience and what entertainment they’re looking for. I want my audience to be able to reinforce their personal identity from my magazine and I also want my magazine to encourage social interaction. I will consider how I right my text within my magazine to create  preferred reading. I’ve thought about my AIDA to keep my audience interested. I want my magazine to contain information that educates my audience. This has also allowed me to think about my unique selling point and how I can gain interest.

Please click on the image to open the PDF

I used this sheet to plan out the outfit my model will wear in my shoot and what I need to bring to ensure that I’m prepared and organised. This has helped me to thoroughly plan before the shoot.